2 2. Second meeting with the Origin

When I got to my apartment I locked the doors. Not that it would help if what he says is true and WWIII was on the horizon. But best to deal with one task at a time. First the impossible Mark on my wrist. It was a dragon. An eastern dragon entwined around my wrist that was sometimes biting its own tail and other times looking up at me. It had childlike inquisitive eyes, looking up at me when I try looking at it. Sometimes it also tends to move to the back of my hand. I would need a glove and a wrist band if I want to keep it hidden.

It was alive and gave off Golden light and reddish light. Sometimes one other time the other. But usually both the colours are combined. But when my right-hand goes away from the left hand it becomes pitch black and the dragon stops moving and returns to biting its own tail around my wrist. Then it just seems like a weird tattoo. Then again it is my only tattoo, so what do I know.

Ok! So there really is a mark on my wrist. The second step is noting down what the Origin said as accurately as possible while I can still remember it. Better write it as a bullet points for a novel in case the notebook fall into a wrong hands and have me institutionalized.

Third step eat and sleep on it. Full stomach and time usually tend to give me a new perspective on things. So I take a nap as I had no work that day. I was awoken in the middle of the day when the AC went off. As I look out of window I see people running and screaming in the congested streets. There were more people than I have ever seen in my entire life.

Yup! Someone has decided to detonate a nuclear device next to my city. Funny thing is I never thought the city as my city before that day. I was just working there. It really was the WWIII. The old man was right. Not an old man but the Origin. And the mark was still on my wrist. I considered using it at that point. But I figured I still had time as I can hear military outside.

It is ironic that while everyone was running, screaming or shouting in the middle of the street. I was very clear-headed. Most probably because I had a plan forming in my head. Then I simply closed the window as I figured there was nothing I could do. And started to put some clothes and food into a bag. Then I saw the book I was reading yesterday. So I decided that it may be more important than any clothes or food to where I was going. So I picked it up and start searching for other books in the series, both the hard copies that I had worn out and soft copies.

I don't know how long it took me to finish all that. But the time I was done, I was starting to think about my wife, 2 daughters and mother. They live in another city next to mine. Thankfully to my right not left from where the nuclear cloud can still be seen. Then I took another peek outside to make sure and there was smoke rising from that direction. I just kept staring at it.

"They are dead you know" a voice that seems so very familiar even though I heard it once today, woke me up from my stupor.

I turned around to face the old man. I was no longer in my apartment I was facing a crater. There was nothing left of my house just ash all around me. I can still breath just fine. I take a foot forward and I notice a burning smell. It came from my shoes they were slowly burning beneath me. Whatever magic that man did seems to only work on my body not my clothes. They were crumbling before my eyes from the heat and I can feel the heat in the air around me, but it was tolerable.

I take another step forward. Then I hear a crunching sound. There were glowing pieces of the skull around my feet. There was another upper body with a skull attached to it two paces before me. All the skeletons had a glowing substance on them. Then I realized it wasn't a substance but burning embers like with my clothes. I was totally naked and empty inside at that point. How can this be real? How can any of this be anything but a dream? I walked towards that skeleton I was dimly aware of a ribcage I dragged around my left leg.

I walked up there and crushed that skull beneath my feet along with the ribcage that I was dragging. I don't know why I did that maybe I just wanted to hear that sound. It was both mesmerizing and unique sort of sound. Then I notice a young corpse was holding on to this one. It must have been my wife and one of my daughters. So, I picked up that skull. It was difficult to remove the vertebrae.

Some skeletons still had flesh on it, not that it would do any good for identification. But the ones I crushed were all bones. There were more corpses then I would have liked around me. And the soil was somehow soft like it was just fertilized.

I kept staring at the young girls' socket holes. It was gazing back at me.

When I looked up from it I was back in my own apartment. He was staring intently at me, from the expression on his face, I gather that he may not be able to bring them back.

"You can't bring them back" I clarify. I was surprised by the sound it was so even without a single hint of crying or grief. I was still holding the skull.

"No! I am too weak. It will kill me. Atleast it will destroy this avatar. But if someone were to take my place… Someone strong and filled with righteousness."

He smirks at that point.

"Cut the bull shit. You don't care about anyone else aside from yourself. And your precious ideas" I was yelling at that point.

"I was born here you know on this planet. It was the ice age as you would call it. I don't know the exact date but I have been walking on this world and other worlds like this ever since then. I have watched everyone I know and love grow old and die." He took a long breath and continued.

"I have turned back time and brought them back to life again and again until they lost all desire to live. Then I have brought them back again and again after altering their memories for the sake of my sanity. I have watched mountains grow out of dust and watched as gold turns into rust. I am so very old and so very tired. I've had enough I want out" his voice was barely audible towards the end.

"So take it from me, what happened to them was mercy. They were wiped out in an instant." I took it to mean that the skull I was holding was not by blood. Not by blood, not my problem.

"They did not have to go through winter fallout this will follow. They did not have to know starvation, hunger and the cruelty of men. But if you think you can make a better world than me you know what you have to do". I was starting to understand his game by now. So I laughed humorlessly.

"Where do I sign up?"

"Just to clarify you won't be getting my powers now. You will gain it in pieces as you advance you trials"

"Am I the only contender"

"Ofcourse not."

"Great just great. And what are criteria's for winning this rat race." I just figured only at that moment that it was a race as other contenders may have already won more pieces of his powers.

Next thing I know he is next to my face saying "Don't roll your eyes, it is impolite". He had my left wrist in his iron grip at that point. "I thought I had to call you? Why come here on your own?" I recall.

"True. Then let's call this a wish. And I am the genie." He says indicating my left wrist. "And this competition is for my benefit. Therefore I will keep all the criteria for myself". That was the last thing I heard as I blacked out.